Barnaby tricks Habs

1998 Playoffs

He asked for a trade just before deadline. He said he would attack Dominik Hasek. All that was forgotten Sunday night when Matthew Barnaby had his first career hat trick to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

"It's not even a dream," said Barnaby, who also added an assist. "I never even thought of (a hat trick). Growing up, I would have been happy to just get one shift in the Stanley Cup playoffs."

Buffalo has won five straight games and has a 2-0 lead in the Conference Semifinal series against Montreal. Barnaby one of the reasons for the Sabres success in the playoffs. He has four goals in seven games, that is pretty good for a guy who scored five goals in 72 games during the regular season.

"Matthew was in a different direction, and that's why he was having trouble," Buffalo's Donald Audette said. "Now, he's happy to be here. Right now, he's playing like I've never seen him play before."

Red Wings crush Blues
The Detroit Red Wings played as defending champion are expected to play and evened their series against the St. Louis Blues with a 6-1 victory.

"Don't read too much into this score," Detroit's Steve Yzerman said. "The game was a lot tighter than it would indicate. That was a close game, until the end there."

Six different players scored for the Red Wings who outshot the Blues 34-25. The series now moves to St. Louis for games Tuesday and Thursday nights, then returns to Detroit for Game 5 next Sunday.

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